Hemp-brake.



Patented Ian 9, I900.

J; HEANEY.

H E M P B R A K E.

(Apylicatioq filed May 24, 1898.)

(No Model.)

III

INVENTOR WITNESSES Atla'rney m: uonms vzrzis c0. PHOTO-Luna" wAsHma. A. a

with STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN HEANEY, OF GRIDLEY, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO A. L. OHAUVET, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

HEMP-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of I letters Patent No. 641,010, dated January 9, 1900. Application filed May 24, 1898. Serial No. 681,581. (No model.)

This invention relates to machines forbraking hemp in making tow.

The object of the invention is to produce a machine in which the tow is delivered or d offed from the cylinder of the brake with little knotting or bunching; and the special improvement of the machine is mainly in the doffer.

Figure 1 is a broken side elevation of so much of the brake and dofier as is necessary to illustrate my invention. Fig. 2 is a broken top plan of the same.

A in the drawings indicates the frame or support of the machine, of any suitable form. Parts are omitted or broken away for convenience of illustration.

B B indicate the usual brake-rolls of a hempbrake, the same being driven by any suitable or usual driving-gear, as at O The cylinder O, inclosed in the casing O, is the usual cylinder or shell-roller of a hempbrake. The cylinder is provided with the usual tooth-bars D, by which, acting with the shell, the shives are beaten or removed in great measure from the broken hemp. The relation of the fluted rolls B, smooth rolls B, and cylinder 0 are much as usual, except that cylinder 0 is muchlarger than in any usual machine. Cylinder O is driven by usual means, as pulley O The tow is carried by the cylinder 0 in the direction of the arrow, as is usual. The tend ency of the cylinder is to carry the fiber directly around, thus winding up the fiber on the cylinder.

It has been common heretofore to use a rotary brush as a doffer, said brush rotating in rather close relation to the cylinder to brush the tow therefrom; but with a brush of this character the tow brushed from the cylinder frequently winds on the brush, and as the brush must run at a high speed .the tow or fiber is bunched and knotted thereby. It has also been a practice to use the upper surface of an endless-belt conveyer to carry away the tow from such a doffer; but such a device is not sure to carry all the fiber, and the dofferbrush causes bunches of fiber on such a belt. My improved doffer, which works to deliver the tow or fiber in much better condition than machines heretofore used with which I am familiar, uses as a doffer an endless apron, as E, supported on two cylinders, as F F, and provided with slats G, having teeth H. The belt or apron E, preferably of canvas, is wider than the length of cylinder O, and the supportingcylinders F F are long enough to carry this endless-belt carrier so that the edges of the belt project, say, a foot at each side beyond the ends of the cylinder 0. Slats G-say about a foot apart, more or lessextend across the belt E. In these slats, extending as far as the width of the cylinder 0, there are teeth Hsay two inches long and four inches apart, more or lessand these'teeth run in close proximity to the teeth on cylinder 0 as the belt or apron moves in the direction indicated by the arrow. The belt or apron may be driven by a pulley I on roller F or in other suitable manner.

The belt E runs in such direction as to take the tow or fiber from the cylinder 0 and carry or draw the fiber along its under side away from the cylinder. The current of air produced by the rotation of the cylinder 0 and the travel of apron E carries the fiber along on or near the under side of the belt E until the fiber is well away from the cylinder, when the fiber falls to the 'floor or into any suitable receptacle. It will be seen that the surface travel of the endless belt along the line of nearest proximity to C is downward and in reverse direction to the surface travel of the cylinder along the same line. Thus, while the cylinder, or the teeth thereon, tends to lift the fiber toward the dofier-belt, the belt tends to and does resist and overcome this tendency. The surface movement of the doffer is more rapid than that of the cylinder, and therefore the fiber is caught and carried along by the doffer, being supported only by the air-currents produced by the machine and by the pulling action of the dofier, and as these forces are overcome the fiber falls below the dofier in a condition much more free from bunches and knots than the tow from any other machine with which 1am familiar.

The extension of the belt or apron beyond the ends of the cylinder 0 prevents the fiber from becoming entangled in the bearings of roll F and also guides the air-currents, so that the fiber is more effectually supported against the under face of apron E than if the apron is only as wide as the cylinder 0, as I have ascertained by actual use.

The length of apron E should be sufficient to draw out long fiber from the cylinder 0 Without'danger of the fiber being carried upward over the end of the apron. About twelve feet has been found a convenient length of belt or apron'in working in longfiber hemp, such as is-raised in California.

The cylinder or roll F need not be driven at ashigh speed as the brush heretofore used as a doffer. This is not only a saving of power, but tends to secure less bunching or knotting of the tow. In fact, for various reasons the improved d'offer delivers a better ,quality of tow from the same grade of hemp doffer, and at'a speed greater than the speed of the cylinder, and driving means for said cylinder and doifer, substantially as described.

2. In a machine of the characterdescribed, the'brake-cylinder, the doffer-apron of greater width than the length of the brake-cylinder, and the slats and teeth carried by said apron to comb the fiber from the cylinder and convey it against the under surface of the apron without other mechanical support and means for driving-the doffer-apron ata speed exceeding the surface speed of the cylinder, sub- 'stantially as described.

fi'ber isconveyed'alon g the under surface of the belt without other mechanical support,

substantially as described.

4:. In ahemp-brake, th'ebrake-rolls in pairs in proximity to the shell roller or cylinder, the

cylinder provided with the usual toothed bars,

and driven to carry the fiber forwardon the lower side of said cylinder, and the doffer, consisting of an endless apron provided with toothed slatsand supported on small cylinders parallel with the shell-roller, one of said cylinders b'ein'g-close'to the shell-roller'andthe other remote therefrom, said belt being driven'at a speed greater than the surface speed of the shell-roller and acting to comb the fiber downwardly and convey it by engagement with the teeth on its lower surface, all combined substantially as described.

In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature in presence of two witnesses;

JOHN HEANEY. Witnesses:

CHAS. H. BROWN, MARION D. BIGGS. 

